Dalit youth stabbed over alleged love affair with dominant caste girl in Coimbatore

The R.S. Puram police have on Thursday arrested a man and his friend who stabbed a Dalit youth allegedly over his love affair with the former’s daughter who belonged to a dominant caste.

The arrested have been identified as J. Karthikeyan (44) of Lokamanya Street and his friend J. Saravanan (34) of Siva Subramaniam Street, at R.S. Puram. While the duo was arrested on Thursday, another accused, Mani, was taken into custody on Friday.

The police said the condition of the injured, P. Premkumar (24) of Chamundeshwari Nagar at Kavundampalayam, was stable as of Friday evening.

According to the police, Mr. Premkumar, who is working for a finance firm as a cash collector, has been in love with the daughter of Karthikeyan, an autorickshaw driver. The girl, a Class XII student, did not go to school on July 15 as she went to Isha Yoga Centre with friends. The school authorities brought the incident to the attention of Karthikeyan who lodged a complaint against Mr. Premkumar at the All Women Police Station, West. The police called both parties and compromised the issue. However, Karthikeyan did not send his daughter to school thereafter.

As per the complaint lodged by Mr. Premkumar, the three asked him to come near a threatre at R.S. Puram around 11 a.m. on Thursday. When he reached the place, the accused abused him and made casteist slur against him apart from stabbing multiple times. The injured was admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.

The accused were booked for attempt to murder and for offence under a section of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Investigating officer A. Manikandan, Assistant Commissioner of Police (R.S. Puram range), said the police detained Mani on Friday, but they were yet to record his arrest.

Courtesy : The Hindu

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